Menopause is a time between stories, when the old story fades and a new story is waiting to emerge. It’s a liminal time, when we hover on the brink of the profound transformation which ultimately leads to elderhood, and contemplate the work of gaining new perspectives on our life, of challenging and evolving our belief systems, of exploring our calling, of uncovering meaning, and ultimately finding healing for a lifetime’s accumulation of wounds.
Nevertheless, the second half of women’s lives is often portrayed as a time of decline. How can we challenge this narrative, map the new territory, prepare ourselves for yet another searing transformation, and move into the second half of life with a sense of vitality, creativity and vision?
9:00 – 10:30am UTC-7 | $275 | Book now and get 20% off until Jun 8, 2023
Week One: July 20
Connecting with our calling
The nature of our work during the second half of life is to grow into the person we always were meant to become: our most authentic self. This requires insight into the unique gift which each of us brings to the world in these troubled times. In this class, we’ll discuss the nature of calling, and explore the ways in which we can find clues about our own calling through working with image and story.
Week Two: July 27
Elderhood as a post-Heroic Journey
If the Hero’s Journey is more suited to the outward-focused first half of life, what does the journey through the second half of life look like? This week, we’ll explore the notion of elderhood as a Post-Heroic Journey – a search for meaning, for the numinous, and for wholeness.
Week 3: August 3
Archetypes of menopause: the Medial Woman
The Medial Woman, first outlined by Toni Wolff, is an archetype we all encounter in one way or another as we approach menopause. From the Alchemist to the Witch, this class explores several iterations of the Medial Woman in European myth and folklore.
Week 4: August 10
Archetypes of elderhood: the Inner Hag
The Inner Hag whose image we each carry within us reflects our own unique variety of wisdom. In this class we’ll uncover the little-known elder women of European myth and folklore: Tricksters and Truth-tellers, Mentors, Creatrixes, Dangerous Old Women, and many more.
Week 5: August 17
Journeying through the Country of Death
Our journey through the second half of life inevitably ends with a journey through the Country of Death. In this class, we’ll explore archetypes of Death and harbingers of Death in the European tradition.
Week 6: August 24
Re-storying elderhood
In this final class, we’ll work with narrative techniques which will help us to identify and, where needed, to transform the personal myths and stories we carry into elderhood.